Novus Doesn’t Bounce

Dr. Lawrence Gettleman is a professor of prosthodontics and biomaterials at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry. He invented Novus and was on the team that obtained its final patent.> Click here for more about Dr. Gettleman

Shock absorbency is one of the most useful and valuable things about Novus. It’s built right into the polymer structure. We didn’t design that in but found that patients preferred the chewing feel of maxillary or mandibular dentures lined with Novus in our first clinical trials, compared to a silicone rubber liner in the denture we tested it against—they liked the natural feel when chewing.

Novus is a dead rubber rather than a live elastomer, which means it doesn’t bounce—it absorbs energy, unlike silicone rubber. It’s like a medicine ball that is dropped and it goes “thud,” compared to dropping a ball made of silicone rubber or soft, plasticized acrylic, which bounces and returns most of the energy. With Novus, most of the energy is not returned, and that turns out to be very important for patient comfort.